This invention relates to a novelty and entertainment item comprising a cup that may be used for drinking beverages and which when empty also serves as a sound generating horn.
Various events are held which attract large crowds of patrons. Such events include sporting events such as football games. It is customary at such events for the fans of a particular team to support their team in various ways. One such way of supporting a team is to attempt to make noise in an effort either to urge on the team one wishes to support or to distract the opposing team.
In creating noise, fans often clap their hands, stamp their feet, or use their voices to shout or yell. Some fans on occasion might use an artificial noisemaker, but this is not typical.
It is also customary at sporting events for beverages to be sold to fans, usually either beer or non-alcoholic beverages such as soda pop. Such beverages are sold in conventional paper or plastic cups. Once the beverage is consumed, the cups are usually thrown away, though plastic cups may often be decorated with graphics and might be kept as souvenirs. The pick up and disposal of drinking cups that are discarded is a time consuming task for the operators of sports stadiums or ballparks.
It would be desirable for a fan at a sporting event to be able to purchase a beverage, to consume that beverage, and to then use the cup in which the beverage was sold as a horn for creating tonal sounds. Such a device would satisfy two needs, the need for a drinking cup and the need for something to use as a noisemaker. Such a device would often be kept as a souvenir, thus potentially decreasing the amount of trash that must be picked up and removed following the sporting event. However, such a device would be inexpensive enough to allow it be disposed of if the purchaser so desired.
Prior to this invention, such a combined drinking cup and horn did not exist. This invention satisfies the described needs.
The prior art does disclose the use of megaphone cups for holding beverages. After the beverage is drunk, the base of the cup can be removed to convert the cup into a megaphone. Once the cup is converted to a megaphone, the user can use it amplify the sound of the user""s own voice. U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,405 to Hanauska shows a combined cup and megaphone of this type.
Megaphone cups of this type only provide amplification of the user""s own voice. They do not provide means for generating non voice-like sounds. For example, they do not provide an ability to produce tonal sounds of the type that would be produced by a horn. Accordingly, they are not as effective or as desirable a noisemaker as many people would prefer.
Some drinking cups or containers include electronic sound generating devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,758 discloses a container having a lid that can be opened. When the lid is opened, a sound generating computer chip produces some type of sound that might encourage the user, such as a small child, to drink.
However, drinking cups using electronic sound generating devices would not generally be suitable for disposable one-time use. They would be relatively expensive due to the need to include the electronic components required to generate the desired sound as well as the need for a battery to power those components. Accordingly, they do not satisfy the need for an inexpensive drinking cup that can also produce a tonal sound but which is inexpensive enough to allow it to be disposed of after use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,265 discloses a juice box type of beverage container having a whistle or horn therein. When the beverage has been drunk from the container, the straw can be left in the juice box. If an air passage in the whistle or horn is exposed, and if the user then induces a suction in the juice box by sucking on a straw left in the juice box, air will be induced to pass inwardly into the juice box through the whistle or horn. This will create a tonal sound.
Again, however, the juice box idea described above is ineffective as a practical noise maker. The space or volume of the juice box is quite constricted and sucking through a straw is an inefficient way of inducing a vacuum or suction in the juice box. The user can simply not move much air by sucking on a straw. Accordingly, the volume of any tonal sounds produced by the whistle or horn would be quite weak and more than likely would be overcome simply by the crowd sounds of those attending the sporting event. Moreover, drinking a beverage from a juice box through a straw is meant primarily for children and would not be used by adults to drink beverages such as beer or soda pop.
One aspect of this invention relates to a combined drinking cup and horn which comprises a cup portion for holding a beverage as a user drinks the beverage through an open end of the cup portion. A selectively openable mouthpiece is attached to the cup portion. A non-verbal sound is produced when the mouthpiece is opened after the beverage is emptied from the cup portion and the user blows through the mouthpiece in the manner of a horn.
Another aspect of this invention relates to a combined drinking cup and horn which comprises a cup portion for holding a beverage as a user consumes the beverage. A mouthpiece on the cup portion has an opening. A removable closure is provided on the opening of the mouthpiece to prevent the beverage from leaking from the cup portion through the mouthpiece as the beverage is being consumed. The mouthpiece and cup portion provide a tonal, horn-like sound when the user blows through the mouthpiece after the cup portion has been emptied of the beverage and the closure on the mouthpiece is removed.
Yet another aspect of this invention relates to a combined drinking cup and horn which comprises a cup portion for holding a beverage. The cup portion has a first end and a second end with circular cross-sections with the cross-section of the cup portion at the first end thereof being smaller than the cross-section of the cup portion at the second end thereof. The cross-section of the cup portion at the second end thereof is sufficiently large to allow a user to drink the beverage from the second end of the cup portion. A mouthpiece is attached to the first end of the cup portion through a reduced diameter neck. A closure is provided for the mouthpiece to prevent the beverage from passing out of the mouthpiece when a beverage is contained in the cup portion and the beverage is being consumed by the user. The closure is removable from the mouthpiece when the cup portion is empty to open the mouthpiece, the reduced diameter neck and the cup portion to allow the user to blow therethrough to create a tone.